Month: June 2008

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:
CHENGDU–The most numerous sentient victims of the May 12,
2008 Sichuan earthquake were livestock. Fourteen million chickens
and rabbits, 3.8 million pigs, 178,000 goats, and 60,000 cows died
in collapsed or inaccessible barns, the Chinese agriculture ministry
updated on June 4, nearly doubling the estimate of pig losses.
Sichuan pig slaughter will drop 10% in 2008 due to the
earthquake, the agriculture ministry estimated.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:
LONDON–The World Society for the
Protection of Animals board on June 5, 2008
elected Montreal attorney and 20-year WSPA board
member Dominique Bellemare to serve as board
president. This might have occasioned little
notice, except that Bellemare is a prominent
Canadian politician, who has no visible record
on such prominent Canadian political topics as
the Atlantic Canada seal hunt and efforts to
update the 1893 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Act.
Bellemare’s web site,
<dominiquebellemare.com>, as of his ascent to
the WSPA board presidency made no mention of
either animal issues or WSPA, but his 2004
campaign biography, distributed as part of an
unsuccessful run for Parliament, mentioned
involvement with the pro-hunting organization
Ducks Unlimited, as well as with WSPA and the
Humane Society of Canada.

Jocko the spider monkey, 15, died from
a fractured skull on May 7, 2008 at the Greater
Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove, British Columbia,
fighting to protect his mate Mia, three years
older, from night intruders. The intruders took
Mia from the zoo. She has not been found. Born
in captivity, Jocko and Mia had shared their
habitat since 1993.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:Stephen Claussen, 41, was killed in a May 17, 2008 light
plane crash in Englewood Township, New Jersey, along with pilot and
plane owner John Ambroult, 60, of Eastham, Massachusetts.
“Claussen, of Seattle, was best known for training Keiko, star of
the blockbuster movie Free Willy, for six years in preparation for
his release into the wild,” recalled Newark Star-Ledger staff
reporter Maryann Spoto. Claussen and crash survivors Jaclyn Toth
Brown, 28, and Juan Carlos Salinas, 43, of Mexico City, “worked
for Texas-based Geo-Marine Inc. gathering data for an environmental
impact statement the state Department of Environmental Protection
will use in assessing what effect offshore wind-powered turbines may
have on marine mammals and birds,” Spoto added. Raised in Bellvue,
Washington, Claussen volunteered in his teens at the Point Defiance
Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, “driving down before work at 4 a.m. to help
feed the animals,” wrote Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore.

LEXINGTON, Kentucky– Widely regarded as an appropriate
horse sport for young women, three-day eventing has in recent years
suffered an injury and fatality rate among both horses and riders
that rivals British steeplechase racing and appears to far exceed
that of American-style track racing.
Public attention to safety in horse competitions as of June
7, 2008 remained focused on the parallel foreleg fractures suffered
on May 3 by the filly Eight Belles, moments after she placed second
to Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby.
In Lexington, however, leaders of the U.S. Equestrian
Federation and U.S. Eventing Association met to try to figure out how
to stop the little-noticed toll of eventing, which many eventing
veterans believe was once much less than it is today.

Long covering whaling and whale-related politics for the
Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Darby enjoys a
reputation as the best there ever was on the whale beat, at least
since Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick. He does well on other
animal-related news beats too. More than 50 Darby articles have
informed ANIMAL PEOPLE coverage of marine mammals, Australian
wildlife, and issues involving Australian zoos. Darby’s work is
conspicuous for providing depth of background and inside
perspectives–and although Darby openly favors whales over
whale-killing, some sources within the Japanese whaling industry
appear to be willing to talk to him when they will not talk to anyone
else.

Ivory Markets in the USA follows Esmond Martin and Daniel
Stiles’ earlier comprehensive reports on the ivory traffic in Africa,
southern and eastern Asia, and Europe. Martin, a geographer, and
Stiles, an anthropologist, in each report thoroughly inventory and
document all the ivory items they find offered for sale in examples
of every type of retail outlet that might stock ivory. Dominoes,
piano keys, and guitar picks attract their notice, as well as the
ornate carvings that are most often associated with antique and
therefore legal uses of ivory.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:
VIENNA–Association Against Animal Factories founder Martin
Balluch and 13 other Austrian activists associated with at least
seven organizations–and the Animal Conference 2006 held in
Vienna–were reportedly arrested without charges on May 21, 2008,
in dawn raids on as many as 24 homes and offices. The raids were
noteworthy for the lack of information disclosed by Austrian
authorities about the reasons for them and the findings of the police
investigators.
“Ten people are being held in pre-trial detention, which
could last for months, accused of ‘forming a criminal organization,'”
said the Farm Animal Reform Movement in a supporting statement.
“Seven, including President of the Austrian Association Against
Animal Factories Professor Martin Balluch, are on a hunger strike
and becoming very weak,” FARM added. Balluch, hunger striking
for 20 days as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, was said to have been
hospitalized.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:
CHICAGO–The Electronic Frontiers Foundation, founded in
1990 to protect freedom of speech and press in cyberspace, on June
14, 2008 sued the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association on behalf
of Showing Animals Respect & Kindness (SHARK), of Geneva, Illinois.
“SHARK videotapes and photographs rodeos to expose animal
abuse, injuries, and deaths,” EFF explained. “SHARK posted more
than two dozen videos to YouTube to publicize animal mistreatment.
But the PRCA filed takedown demands for 13 videos under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act. YouTube removed the videos and canceled
SHARK’s YouTube account, even though the PRCA has no copyright claim
in live rodeo events.”
Said EFF Intellectual Property Fellow Emily Berger, “Those
bringing meritless copyright claims must be held accountable.”

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